So, here we are in America, what now? It's true, just yesterday you were rushing to finish a lab report, and today you're standing in the middle of classic one-story America—such a sudden realization of a dream... It's disorienting x). By the way, I never said where I was going! My workplace was the world-famous Niagara Falls, or rather, a hotel near them. By the way, the locals say "Niagara Falls," none of that "Niagara" stuff. On the first day, they gave us a day off to look around the city. I went to the observation deck on the last day. So, what should a newly arrived worker do? Besides the really obvious things, there are some important ones. Let's go through the list again: First, you still need to continue processing your documents, specifically getting a Social Security Number (SSN). There's nothing difficult here, just follow the instructions they give you. And don't be like me—read carefully which of your parents' surnames you need to provide... You might also run into a problem with the I-94 form, which needs to be printed. It's not at all certain that this will happen; I don't know anyone else who had problems with it, but I did—the website just couldn't find it in the database. Don't panic—just call the CBP office and they'll tell you what to do. For example, they told me to go to the customs office at the Canadian border x). Not just the Canadian border, but also a decent observation deck. Second, mobile service. It's not at all certain that you even need it. Back home, for example, we already had Wi-Fi, kindly provided by our neighbors (we're still not sure if it was included in the house bill or if we were just borrowing it from them...). You won't have to make calls often either. Personally, I did it maybe once, when I had issues with my documents. Why am I emphasizing this? Because it costs a pretty penny. What, in Russia you pay 300 rubles for unlimited 4G internet? Forget it! Here, this service can cost up to $100, as my WnT roommate paid. You should have seen his face when I said mine cost $20. Actually, as befits a poor Russian student, I decided to save money. After a detailed study of the market, which varies quite a bit from region to region, I decided to choose Mint mobile and a plan with 8GB of data. Yes, watching videos in 144p was painful, but who has it easy these days? I mainly used it for entertainment at work and on the way there/back, fortunately, they didn't beat you for listening to music and podcasts at the workplace... as long as you didn't mess up x). Yes, find out the rules in advance. Because we were allowed to wear headphones, but not talk on the phone. But back to the topic. There is another option—you can buy a plan for several "lines," which will save you money if you have a group willing to chip in; it might even work out cheaper than my option. There are also pitfalls—despite the fact that all compatibility tests showed that my phone was perfectly suited for American communications, in practice it turned out that the internet kept dropping out and couldn't connect to 4G, and only in support did it turn out that it wasn't quite compatible. Mint mobile, "Cause we're so nice," offered to refund the money but... Who am I kidding, I hadn't found anything as cheap at that time, so I decided to put up with it. Overall, it was livable—it didn't catch, suddenly, in my bedroom and partially further around the city. And also, no less suddenly, on the second floor of the hotel. However, unexpected problems with it didn't end there, but more on that towards the end. The moral of this paragraph is this—after buying a SIM card for your Russian phone, check if it catches the network normally and how critical failures are for you. Also, if you were planning to upgrade your tech, it's probably better to do it upon arrival. Just don't buy phones "locked" to specific carriers, which are sold quite cheaply for signing up with a carrier, otherwise you'll have to hack them. Unfortunately or fortunately,
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